Cracked Oil Furnace Heat Exchanger

The heat exchanger on a furnace is the section that keeps the combustion chamber and the breathing air separate 3.

Cracked oil furnace heat exchanger.

A cracked heat exchanger allows air from the furnace blower to interfere with the flame causing it to flutter or even roll out. If your gas furnace is about that age the chances are high that the heat exchanger can crack. The combustible gas will become hotter as it accumulates in the exchanger. Potential dangers of a cracked heat exchanger.

This trips a safety switch and shuts down the furnace. Look for signs that the metal has been overheated or symptoms of long term metal fatigue. Operating a furnace with a cracked heat exchanger can be very dangerous. When a heat exchanger becomes damaged and the combustion fumes and gases mix with the clean air.

Furnaces are equipped with a safety feature called a flame rollout limit switch. A heat exchanger is made of thin metal and as it heats up from the combustion of the furnace it transfers the heat to the air being distributed through the house by the blower 3. Proper diagnosis of a failed or cracked heat exchanger. Consequently air temperature becomes hotter.

Examine the crack itself. Even though your furnace may look and seem fine dangerous gases could leak into your home and seriously affect even kill your family members. Diagnosis of a heat exchanger crack typically starts with a no heat service call. A damaged heat exchanger in a gas furnace is potentially dangerous to a home s occupants and should not be ignored.

If a heat exchanger becomes cracked then your heating system will not perform as it should. Signs your furnace has a cracked heat exchanger. Before you can do any repairs you should make sure that you check over your furnace heat exchanger thoroughly. So you need to get a replacement ready to avoid inconveniences if it breaks.

Step 1 check the furnace heat exchanger. Combustion gasses and carbin monoxide can be. Here is a video of a crack in a heat exchanger we found during a oil furnace cleaning and tune up in yardley pa. Remove it from the furnace and examine it in the light.

In some cases owners discover they have a cracked heat exchanger because the furnace shut down. Broken and leaking heat exchangers are responsible for about 1 500 deaths per year in the united states and many more people are poisoned by exposure to toxic gasses that go unfiltered by defective heat exchangers.